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Oct 21, 2022·edited Oct 21, 2022Liked by Natasha Loder

Great post, Natasha, thank you. As I understand it... with our energy systems, the food system has become principally a vehicle for profits for the fossil fuel industry. Regenerative agriculture is far more profitable for farmers, but of course not at all profitable for big oil. Regenerative agriculture may sometimes deliver lower bulk yields, but delivers higher nutritional yields. The food sector problems are entirely related to our energy sector problems: flawed democracies (in the US, UK and South Africa, my home) and neoliberal ideology leading to woeful under-regulation of a now criminal industry. So the fix is lodged not in the food system itself but in political reform. In the UK, you may have a shot at this if Labour follows through on proportional representation (hopefully not straight PR which is as useless as FPTP).

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Excellent post, Natasha. Processed foods clearly lead to overconsumption.

But I think we also need to take into account economic factors. Almost two decades ago health economist David Cutler and two colleagues at Harvard wrote a great article in the Journal of Economic Perspectives seeking to explain rising obesity among Americans. They explained how an array of technical changes had cut the time and lowered the costs in preparing foods eg microwave ovens and prepared ingredients such as French fries. Using time diaries they found that Americans had responded to the lower "time price" of food not by eating more at set meals but by having more snacks. I know the study you cited allowed people eating the non-processed foods to snack, but snacking is much more calorific nowadays. Another economic dimension is that processed food is so often cheaper.

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What is the defining feature or characteristic that distinguishes 'processed' from 'unprocessed' foods? From the footnote, there are many items normally considered processed (e.g. hot dogs). But I wonder if the term 'processed' is too-broad to be helpful, or even a bit of a misnomer. Perhaps the distinguishing factor is actually the amount/proportion of unhealthy ingredients, like sugar and salt, (regardless of whether it's processed, unprocessed, home-made, other)?

For example, blueberry yoghurt is on the bad list - presumably when packaged and purchased from the store. But if I purchased plain yoghurt and frozen blueberries from the store and then combined them myself, it would not be processed, correct? Could any bread products ever be considered unprocessed (even homemade)? Anything with flour? Could beef and bean chili ever be unprocessed? (currently on the bad list).

Natasha, what kinds and level of processing do you think—based on such studies—determine the threshold between processed/unprocessed? How adulterated can foods be before passing the threshold? Skim milk, plain yoghurt, and olive oil are definitely processed to an extent, as are dried figs, penne pasta, black bean hummus....

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The vast subsidies we give for processed foods is part of the problem. USDA, if I remember right, gave $15 million to a study to cut back on cheese, but a $50 million grant to inject more cheese into pizza….

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